Producer Stories

DURGA LAXMI MAHARJAN 

Durga was married at 16 and two years later she caught typhoid. She was prescribed medication, which left her disabled in both legs, and she has been confined to a wheelchair since. Her husband disappeared soon after. Durga met Bridget Crampton, then a VSO volunteer, at the Orthopaedic Hospital in Kathmandu. Bridget suggested that Durga should contact KTS and she enrolled in the KTS hand knitting vocational training for three months.

After graduating from the training, Durga rented a flat near KTS but after two months returned to live in her parents’ house in Lubhu. A relative of Durga’s also began to work for KTS and she fetched the yarn and knitting patterns they needed to complete their work, as it was very difficult for Durga to travel.

Durga is now a Group Leader, responsible for 12 knitters in her group. After a KTS staff member has brought the pattern and materials to Durga, she trains her group to produce the garments. She deals with any problems the knitters have with a pattern, regularly checks their work for size and consistency and encourages them to produce high quality work on time. Her producers knit whole garments and Durga pays them per item. KTS pays Durga’s wages on delivery of the garments.

Durga is supporting her aged parents, with additional help from her brother. Her father was a farmer but he had trouble because of the lack of water and he divided his land between his five sons. The work that Durga is able to do through KTS is vital to the health and future of her and her parents.

 

 

LAXMI SHOVA  

Laxmi was born in Wolkhu in the Lalitpur district. Her father worked at the local post office and he retired in December 2003. Her family has a very small traditional house but no land and the family was entirely dependent on her father’s pension of NPR3,500 (US$50) per month for their survival. Laxmi has a brother and a sister. Her mother suffers from an orthopaedic disease, high blood pressure and neurological problems.

Laxmi graduated from the hand-knitting vocational training at KTS in 1991. She then joined the KTS hand-knitting production unit, working part-time while she continued her higher education. Because of her family’s economic difficulties, she decided to start working full time because, as the eldest daughter of the family, she feels a responsibility to support her family, provide medicine for her mother and help educate her brother and sister. She is a very hard working and dedicated producer and, since 2004, she has been a KTS production coordinator.

 

 

SABITA SHAKYA   

When Sabita was 32 years old, she had an arranged marriage to a divorced man, with two daughters, who worked as a carpenter. Unfortunately, he had a drinking problem. Sabita lived with her mother-in-law, her husband and three children. They had a small area of land where they grew some vegetables. Sabita was entirely responsible for doing all the household chores, such as preparing food, doing the washing and looking after the family. Her four sisters-in-law who were already married gave her some financial support.

Sabita has been producing knitwear accessories for KTS since 1999; she works part-time after completing her household work. She barely makes NPR1,500 a month and she spends her income on educating her three daughters.

 

SAPANA CHHETRI  

Sapana was born in Pokali village, in the district of Okhaldhunga in the north east of Nepal. She came to Kathmandu in about 2001 with a friend. She got a job in a grocery shop in Kathmandu where she met a boy called Buddhi Kumal who had migrated from Lamjung in the north west of the country. After a few months, they started living together as husband and wife. Sapana became pregnant and just one month before the baby was born her husband disappeared.

During this very difficult time, Sapana’s landlord and some neighbours supported her on humanitarian grounds but, after two months, she became increasingly desperate about surviving alone with her newborn child. When Sapana came to KTS, her son was suffering from malnutrition and she asked us for help. KTS gave her a job winding wool and, at the same time, enrolled her in the carpet weaving vocational training programme. She graduated in 2003.

Sapana now works as a carpet weaver in the KTS carpet production unit. She is living in better conditions with her son and the Founder Chairman of KTS has been providing a subsidy for Sapana’s accommodation. Her son was in the day-care centre when he was little and is now in Class 1 in the KTS Primary School where he is doing well with his studies.